It is known in vehicles to provide an armrest in a door having an integrated pull handle (also known as a grab handle) to allow the occupant to pull the door shut. The grab handle or pull handle is part of the vehicle's door interior trim and usually protrudes inboard in vehicles from the normal door panel surface.
Known pull handles are typically of one-piece design to meet requirements of strength and durability. Door pull handles are designed to meet specific deflection (flexing) requirements during a side impact event to minimize loads on the vehicle occupant. Particularly, when a motor vehicle is involved in a side impact event involving another vehicle or a side impact collision with a stationary object, the vehicle occupant may be compressed against the vehicle door interior trim and its components, including the grab handle. If the grab handle is situated near the location of the seated occupant or where the occupant contacts the door panel assembly, then compressive forces will be observed on the grab handle as a reaction to the forces imparted from the occupant. Equal and opposite forces will be transferred into the occupant from the grab handle and these forces may cause injury to the occupant if they are excessive.
Efforts have been made to overcome the problems of known grab handle designs. A common solution to reducing loads on the occupant from the pull handle is to remove structure. This is achieved by forming notches or grooves (designed to weaken the part) into the pull handle to initiate flex and fracture. However, this approach weakens the grab handle and adversely affects durability. In addition, the flexing or fracturing itself is difficult to predict and as a result often these features do not behave as predicted, resulting in additional changes late in the program development cycle.
A less complex and more predictable solution to the problems of known grab handle designs is to simply move the grab handle away from the occupant. While improving deflection this approach negatively affects ergonomics since the grab handle must be placed too far forward for the comfort of the occupant. In addition, this arrangement may reduce or eliminate package space for window and door controllers.
Accordingly, as in so many areas of vehicle design, there is room for improvement in the art of grab handle construction.